The Official Nobel Prize Items: the Nobel Prize Diploma and the Nobel Prize Medal
The Nobel Prize Diploma
Between 1901 and 1964, the diplomas awarded with each Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine were custom creations by renowned Swedish artists. A visually uniform format was only introduced in 1965. From 1929 to 1952 they were crafted by painter, graphic artist, and craftsman Jerk Werkmäster, artistic director of the prestigious Nittsjö ceramics manufactory, who also produced Szent-Györgyi’s diploma. Each of the city names on the first page of the fold-out diploma represents a stage in Szent-Györgyi’s scientific career. Under a bountiful pepper plant, whose fruits recall the peppers from which the scientist extracted large quantities of vitamin C, stands the name of the Stockholm-based institution awarding the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: “Kung. Karolinska Mediko-Kirurgiska Institutet” (Royal Caroline Institute of Medicine and Surgery). Next is the name of Alfred Nobel, who, on November 27, 1895, made a will outlining the conditions for the establishment and awarding of the prize he conceived, stipulating that it be established after his death. The second page provides a concise citation explaining that Szent-Györgyi received the award “for his discoveries in connection with biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid”. This is followed by the date the prize was conferred, October 28, 1937. Hungarian journalist György Pálóczi Horváth described the front and back covers of the diploma as follows: “Bound in fine Saffian leather, the wooden cover of the diploma is adorned with gilded letters reading A.V.S.G. [Albert von Szent-Györgyi]. The back cover of this elegant diploma features the staff of Aesculapius with the serpent.” The diploma is kept in the library of Szent-Györgyi’s American workplace (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory).
The Nobel Prize medal
The medals for the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Literature, and Chemistry weigh approximately 200 grams and measure 66 millimeters in diameter. Until 1980, they were made from 23-karat gold; afterward, they were made of 18-karat green gold (in which the base metal is gold, and the alloying metal is pure silver) and plated with 24-karat gold. They were designed by Swedish sculptor Erik Lindberg. The obverse side of the medal is identical for every category of the prize, featuring Alfred Nobel’s profile facing left, along with his name and the years of his birth and death. However, on the reverse side, only the inscription is common to all categories: “INVENTAS VITAM JUVAT EXCOLUISSE PER ARTES”. The motto is a paraphrase of a line from Virgil’s Aeneid (canto 6, line 663: “inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes") and may be interpreted as “those who, through the invention of arts and crafts, have ennobled and humanized human life” – i.e., culture heroes, philosophers, artists, and scientists. In the case of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the reverse of the medal features a female figure, representing the genius of medicine. Adorned with a laurel wreath, she holds an open book in her lap. With one hand, she embraces a suffering maiden, while with the other, she gathers water from a spring that flows from a crevice in the rocks, filling a bowl to quench the patient’s thirst. To their right, a chalice with a serpent coiled around it rests on the ground. A square cartouche below the scene bears the name of the laureate and the year the award was conferred: “A. von Szent-Györgyi / MCMXXXVII”, flanked by the name of the awarding body: “REG. UNIVERSITAS / MED.-CHIR. CAROL.”
Although not strictly related to the chronicle of the Nobel Week, the tumultuous fate of Szent-Györgyi’s Nobel medal also warrants detailed discussion – especially because, due to the unfolding historical events and a generous gesture on Szent-Györgyi’s part, the medal would not remain in its original owner’s possession for long. World War II broke out. On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, sparking the so-called Finnish Winter War. This conflict, which lasted just over three months, claimed a significant number of lives on both sides. In early 1940, Hungary followed suit with other countries by launching its own aid campaign to help the Finns. Szent-Györgyi contributed by donating nothing less than his Nobel medal. He personally delivered the medal to Finnish Ambassador Dr. Onni Talas in the aula of the central building of the university in Szeged on March 9, 1940. The Soviet-Finnish war ended on 12 March 1940. Meanwhile, at the initiative of Count István Zichy, Director General of the Hungarian National Museum of History (one of the main units of the Hungarian National Museum), a campaign was launched to redeem the medal and bring it back to Hungary. Although Zichy successfully negotiated with the Hungarian National Bank to secure the medal, the arrangement ultimately proved unnecessary, as Ambassador Talas was equally committed to ensuring its return. By early summer, the press reported that, thanks to Talas’s mediation, Wilhelm Hilbert, a Finnish company director with Hungarian connections, had arranged to redeem the medal from the Finnish aid committee by providing the necessary funds. Hilbert then donated the medal to the Hungarian National Museum of History to be held in its Medal Collection. On June 12, the company director, accompanied by the ambassador, visited István Zichy and personally presented the medal to the museum. Hilbert imposed one condition: his gift had to be displayed in a place of honor in the permanent exhibition of the Medal Collection. However, in 1944, during the siege of Budapest, the entire museum collection had to be moved to a safe location. The medal remained in storage for a considerable period. In fact, Szent-Györgyi, who emigrated to the United States in 1947, believed that his Nobel medal was lost and “never recovered”. It wasn’t until 1993 that the medal was shown to the public for the first time, during an exhibition on Hungary’s Nobel laureates, organized at the Hungarian National Museum to mark the 100th anniversary of Szent-Györgyi’s birth.